A close look at the main developments in IT, business processes and offshore outsourcing. This book studies these topics in both theory and practice, exploring the rising prominence of outsourcing with a multi-dimensional, contextual perspective.PART I: INTRODUCTION IT Outsourcing Practices: Lessons from Experience PART II: REALIZING OUTSOURCING EXPECTATIONS: INCREDIBLE PROMISES, CREDIBLE OUTCOMES? Contracting and Relationships in IT Outsourcing Cooperative Partnerships and 'Total' IT Outsourcing: From Contractual Obligations to Strategic Alliance? Offshore Outsourcing: A Country Too Far? IT Outsourcing in Public Sector Contexts: Towards the Contractual Organization IS Sourcing: Examining the Privatisation Option in Public Administration Analysing IT Outsourcing Decisions: Size, Interdependency and Risk Risk Mitigation in IT Outsourcing Strategy IT Outsourcing: Risk, Creative Contracting and Business Advantage Information Technology Insourcing: Myths and Realities PART III: ASP AS SOURCING STRATEGY: THEORY AND PRACTICE IT Sourcing: Reflections ITO Configuration: Defining and Designing Outsourcing Arrangements Business Process Outsourcing: The Promise of the Enterprise Partnership Model A Study of Offshore Outsourcing: The Case of Biotech IT Outsourcing Success: A Multi-dimensional, Contextual Perspective on Outsourcing Outcomes Offshore Outsourcing and the Role of Social CapitalMARY CECELIA LACITY is a Professor of Information Systems and International Business Fellow at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, USA. She has written ten books, including Offshore Outsourcing of IT Work, (Palgrave, 2008; co-author Joe Rottman) and Global Sourcing of Business and IT Services (Palgrave, 2006; co-author Leslie Willcocks). Her 40 journal publications have appeared in the Harvard Business Review, Sloan Management Review, MIS Quarterly, IEEE Computer, Communications of the ACM